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Dementia: Finding housing solutions

May 7 2013

This report, published by the National Housing Federation, highlights how good housing and related services can impact positively on the lives of people with dementia, from delaying more intensive forms of care to preventing admission and readmission to hospital.

The report includes many examples of good practice ranging from housing associations and home improvement agencies, providing a range of flexible support, specialist housing and home adaptations, which allow people to live well with dementia.

Case studies from housing associations and home improvement agencies show how appropriate housing can:

reduce or delay demand for health and social care services for people with dementia

improve the rate of diagnosis of dementia

deliver improved health and social care outcomes at a lower cost

The report encourages readers to think more about the role that housing organisations have to play in providing the infrastructure and the services that allow people with dementia to carry on leading their lives, as part of the community, in their own homes.

The report recommends that commissioners and their local partners work together with housing organisations to enable people with dementia to retain their independence for as long as possible:

Clinical commissioning groups should work closely with the housing sector to identify where costs build up in different parts of the care and health system, and to design home based solutions that will relieve these pressures.

Local authorities, housing providers, home improvement agencies and NHS Trusts should work in partnership to develop support services for people with dementia. These bodies should build on existing resources such as specialist housing and frontline support services to maximise opportunities for diagnosis and early intervention.

Directors of public health should work with housing organisations to increase the diagnosis rates of dementia, building on the existing infrastructure of housing management and support services present within current housing services.